CITY COUNCIL WILL ASK STRIP OF LAND IN YARD

Once again calling upon the University for more cooperation with local officials, the City Council last night unanimously requested the Fellows of Harvard University to hand over to the city a narrow "Polish Corridor" of land.

Upon motion of Councilor-at-Large John J. Toomey, the Council passed a resolution asking the College to donate a strip of land on the northwest corner of the Yard which would be used in broadening the junction of Kirkland and Peabody Streets. The strip lies between Kirkland Street and Phillips Brooks House, and Peabody Street and Mower Hall.

Expect to Get Land

Explaining his motion to the Council, Councilor Toomey said, "Due to the fact that the Fellows of Harvard University have decided to enter into a much better relationship with the city, I can foresee their willingness to sit down with city officials and deed this land."

He described the "serious traffic congestion" at the intersection, and said that broadening the junction would "protect the students passing there" from automobile accidents.

Interviewed at the meeting, City Councilor Michael A. Sullivan said that the project would "benefit Harvard as much as Cambridge," and expressed his hope that the University would surrender the land.

Though the first to receive serious consideration by the Council, Toomey's proposal is the least ambitious of several plans of city councilors affecting University property. Some members of the Council would like to see the University give land to Cambridge which could be used as children's playgrounds.

In the preamble of the resolution, the Council suggested that a precedent for the gift of land lies in Harvard's recent donation and maintenance of an X-ray machine at the Municipal Hospital, which shows that the University is "willing to cooperate with the city on matters concerning the health, welfare, and general improvements of Cambridge.